Improvement in water-filters



UNITED STATES IEATENT NOFFIOE.

JOHN ORAWFORD, OF NEW YORK, N. v ASsI'GNOR `TO .JAMES STEPHENS AND ELLIOTT F. eLEAsON, OF SAME PLAGE.

u IMPROVEMENT iN WATER-Firmas.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 199,519, dated January 22, 1878; application iiled To all whom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, J ORN CRAWFORD, of the cityjand State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Water-Filters and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication.

for application to water-coolers containing ice for keeping water cool; but it is also applicable to refrigerators, and to other'receptacles for liquids.

The invention has for its object the supply of a convenient, durable, cheap, and effective hlter, which may be easily cleaned, and which,

y when-used in connection with water-coolers and refrigerators, filters the water produced from the melting ice, as well as the additional water cooled by the ice.

The construction and operation of the filter are substantially the same in all its applications, and it will therefore be a sufficient illustration of the invention to describe it as applied to a common water-cooler.

Figure l in the drawing represents a central vertical section through a water-cooler having applled. thereto my improved filter. Fig. 2 is a top view ofthe lter detached and removed from the cooler. A is the cooler, formed with non-conducting materials, placed in a hollow wall in the usual manner, having a cover, B, and a cock, C, for drawing water from the same. D is the filterbox, which is made of plate tin, copper, galvanized sheet-iron, or any other suitable material, and having in the central part of its bottom an opening, d, through which filtering material of any kind may be placed in the said ilter-box, and which opening is closed while the lter is in use, as hereinafter described.

Both the top and bottom of the filter-box are preferably made convex on their outer sides; but this feature is not essential to the working of the lter, although it works better when made in this way.

In the top of the box D is inserted, at one side, a double-convex strainer, E, of wiregauze, perforated metal, or other suitable material,

and in the bottom of the box, at the opposite side My invention is more especially intended teriaL July l0, 1877.

from that in which the strainer E is inserted, another strainer, E', is also inserted. The opening d is tubulated, the short tube f, which extends downward from the same, being supplied witha cap, g, for closingsaid tube'. 'Said cap may beeither a screw-cap or merely a cap formed .with a rim to t the tubulef. Within saidtubule, and extending somewhat up into the interior of the box D, is a concave-convex strainer, E, so fitted within the tubule that it cannot be pushed through into the interior of the box.

In use I prefer to inserta piece of sponge,

.,S, in the tubule f between the cap g and the i `strainer E. l

To the upper and outer border of the box D I attach a flat ring, F, preferably of elastic rubber, but which may be of any other exible ma- In the larger sizes of filters I also attach legs to the bottom of the filter, upon which the box rests when in use; but in the smaller sizes the tubule f forms a sufficient support for the box.

When the box D is pushed downward within the cooler, as shown in Fig. 1, the iiexible rubber ring F turns upward on the inside of the cooler, and forms a perfectly-tight cup-packing, which prevents any communication from the part of the cooler above the filter to the space below said lter, except through the strainers E El and the box D. To the top of the filter-box D is attached Va handle, H, for

withdrawing the same from the cooler or refrigerator in which it is placed.

The interior of the box is, in use, illed with any suitable filterin g material, diiferent materials being employed for different qualities of water to be filtered. When the water contains ,only mechanical impurities, any of the ordinary iltering materials for removing such impurities may be employed; but when the water contains organic impurities in Solution, animal or vegetable charcoal or other materials suitable for rendering the water pure may be placed in the box.

Whether used in a water-cooler or in a refrigerator, the ice is always placed above the filter, in order that the Water melting from the ice and the water cooled by the same may be filtered.

The lter thus constructed presents the following advantages: It supplies a cheap, conve1iient,fand durable filter for the Water-coolers almost universally used in hotels, railwaystatious, and ofiices, and for refrigerators, or for any other kind of vessel, its horizontal configuration being made of a form to t the cooler, refrigerator, or vessel in which it is to be used. It is easily cleaned an-d kept clean, all its parts being readily accessible for cleansing. It effectively filters both the Water in which the ice is put for cooling purposes and the water melted from the ice, removing therefrom the mechanical and organic impurities with which ice is not infrequently contaminated, the pure cold filtered water being drawn from the space below the filter.

The upward convexity of the top and bottom is useful in directing the coarser impurities away from the strainers, such impurities gravitating into the glitter or depression around the edge of the top of the filter-box adjacent to the upturned cup-packing F, and also in the center of the bottom of ythe box around thel tubular opening d, Where they pass through the strainer E, and are retained bythe sponge S. The said sponge may be removed as often as desired for the washing without disturbing the filtering material contained in the box D until such time as it may be desirable to change said filtering material; The upper portion of the double-convex strainer E is more coarsely l perforated than the lower portion, and the lower portion of the strainerE' is more coarsely perforated than the upper portion, the outermost portions performing the function of protectors for the inner ones to protect the latter from injury.

I claim- The filter-box D, in combination with the double-convex strainers E E', the central tubular opening d in the bottom of the box, the strainer E inserted in the said tubular opening, and the cap g for closing said opening and retaining in the tubule f the sponge S, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. rllhe combination, with a box for containing filtering material and strainers for permitting the flow of water through tliebox, of a iiexible or elastic cup-packing ring, F, attached to the said box, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. v

3. The combination, with a vessel for containing Water or ice, or both, of the lter-box D, constructed with the strainers and tubulated opening and "packing, substantially as described, and supported in the vessel above the bottom, to leave a space for filtered water, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN CRAWFORD. 

